“A collection of profound and epic album reviews and musical articles by former astronaut and brain surgeon, Alasdair Kennedy. Reaching levels of poetry that rival Keats and Blake, the following reviews affirm Alasdair to be a prodigy, a genius and a god whose opinion is always objectively right. He is also without a doubt the most modest man in the universe.” - Alasdair Kennedy

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Friday, 4 October 2013

Review of "AM" by the Arctic Monkeys

At first, I thought this album was dull as dishwater. Now, I’m kind of on the fence with it.

The Arctic Monkeys' debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, was a blissfully unrefined,
primal guitar banger that took an angst-ridden, realistic
perspective on the club scene. It was gritty music to fuel a bar fight. AM, contrastingly, is music to fuel a
hangover. It’s not music to groove and party to. It’s lazy background music with tight
plodding palm-muted riffs. Some of the tracks like, No.1 Party Anthem, do nothing for me, carrying all the mind-numbing properties of general
aesthetic. However, there are other tracks that have for some inexplicable reason burrowed deep into my brain e.g. Why D’you
Only Call Me When You’re High.

Writing unromantic, brutally honest lyrics is
the band’s masterful speciality and I think that is where this album's strength lies. For me, it fails instrumentally on many tracks. Enough palm-muting already.